World tennis number one Serena Williams announced her return from injury by overpowering Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 6-1 at the Italian Open in her first match since winning the Australian Open in January.
The American, who suffered a knee injury after beating Justine Henin to lift the title in Melbourne, looked listless in the early stages of her second-round match and struggled on serve.
Her sister, the fourth seed Venus Williams, and the two-time champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia also both progressed but the Russian holder Dinara Safina slumped to a 6-4 6-7 6-1 defeat by world number 43 Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania.
Safina's also been plagued by injury problems.
